The leader of the non-sectarian Alliance party has been elected as Northern Ireland's new justice minister.

David Ford takes charges of justice and policing on the day that the Real IRA launched an audacious attack on the regional headquarters of MI5. He the first locally elected political to take charge of these powers since 1972 when the British government prorogued the Stormont Parliament during the bloodiest year of Ulster's Troubles. Ford was elevated to the post after securing support from Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party in the Assembly this afternoon. But there was controversy after the SDLP claimed the ministry was in fact justly theirs under the parliamentary rules drawn up following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The SDLP had nominated Alban Maginness, a barrister and Assembly member for North Belfast. The Ulster Unionists also nomianted their own member Danny Kennedy to the Justice Ministry. Following the vote Ford is now in charge of a departmental budget of nearly %C2%A31.5 billion and more than 4,000 employees. Ford takes over the post on the day that Police Service of Northern Ireland admitted that the security threat from republican dissidents was now "severe". The DUP nominated Lord Morrow as the chairman of the Stormont parliamentary committee which oversee and scrutinise the Justice Department."

He is the first locally elected politician to take the role since 1972, when the British government prorogued the Stormont parliament during the bloodiest year of the Troubles. He takes charge of a departmental budget of nearly £1.5bn and more than 4,000 employees.

Ford secured support from Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist party in the assembly this afternoon, but the SDLP claimed the ministry was justly theirs under parliamentary rules drawn up following the Good Friday agreement of 1998.

The SDLP had nominated Alban Maginness, a barrister and assembly member for North Belfast. The Ulster Unionists also nominated a candidate, Danny Kennedy.

The DUP nominated Lord Morrow as chairman of the Stormont parliamentary committee, which oversees and scrutinises the justice department.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland admitted today that the security threat from republican dissidents was "severe".